Unexpected natural disasters and public emergencies can significantly strain the resources of the first response teams that are tasked with coordinating a response to these traumatic events.
Accordingly, many local governments, police and fire departments and emergency health providers have predetermined and comprehensive emergency management plans in place which assign explicit roles to the various organizations and public authorities that are deployed in the event of a natural disaster or public emergency.
One of the many tasks that presented during disaster response is the collection, preservation and forensic identification of any cadavers or human remains. As one will readily appreciate, time
becomes a critical factor when dealing with casualties and forensic science, as any delay can result in evidential spoliation and the possibility of introducing health hazards to the site. For example, if cadavers or human remains are not dealt with in a timely manner, infectious diseases can be transmitted that can exacerbate the severity of the event for any adjacent residents and first-responders. Additionally, decay can impede victim identification as DNA can be severely degraded when exposed to the elements as will be readily understood by the skilled person. As such, it is of critical importance to quickly collect and transport human remains from the disaster site to medical grade storage.
Another major challenge presented during a natural disaster is that municipal infrastructure (such as water treatment, electricity and transport arteries) regularly fails. It is contemplated that having an on-site yet mobile morgue can help first responders manage these infrastructure failures.
Moreover, most municipalities' mortuary capacity is quickly outpaced by the volume of cadavers and human remains that can unfortunately be generated by a mass casualty event. As such, a robust, easily-deployed and self-contained unit that can be delivered to the site of a mass casualty eases enormous strain on local storage resources, which can increase the pace of victim identifications and keep remains centrally stored for key evidentiary issues that accompany post-event inquiries.
Accordingly, facilities are required that can store cadavers and human remains in a secure and dignified manner. In some jurisdictions, it is required by law to maintain and have access to temporary morgue facilities.
Ideally, these facilities must be secure and can be deployed in any weather, require minimal upkeep and preventative maintenance when not in use and provide a space where professional responders can work with the deceased in a manner that is sufficiently organized and controlled to ensure that the necessary tasks can be completed quickly and efficiently.
Currently, there is a clear deficit of suitable solutions that address the concerns presented herein. In some situations, existing public buildings or spaces are used for housing a makeshift morgue,
however, it will be readily appreciated that using public facilities for the storage and identification of cadavers and human remains presents a number of health and public-relations issues that are undesirable.
Similarly, it will be readily appreciated that repurposing equipment (such as a refrigerated storage locker of transport trailer) for the purposes of storing human cadavers or remains is undesirable given the opportunities for cross-contamination and the general aesthetic concerns that are fundamentally present when dealing with matters of this nature.
Moreover, tent-based systems have been used in mass-fatality events that include a tent structure for temporarily housing a number of stretchers/gurneys, racking/shelving systems, examination tables and any other suitable mortuary equipment for quick deployment in the event of a mass-fatality event. Such tent-based systems are truly temporary and can be surprisingly expensive given their fragility and functional limitations, cannot be transported with cadavers or human remains inside and do not provide a secure storage space in the event that a secondary event (aftershock, terrorist attack, etc.) were to occur. Further, tent-based systems are soft-sided which makes temperature control difficult if not impossible and require a significant degree of set-up and as such do not offer optimal ease of deployment.
Moreover, trailer-based temporary morgue systems are also well-known and are relatively easy to deploy, however, these systems tend to be quite expensive given the specialized equipment required. Also, currently available trailer-based systems present significant loading and unloading challenges given the layout of a standard tractor trailer, and can have considerable durability/lifespan issues.
Accordingly, there is need for a temporary morgue system that is highly mobile, secure, robust, easy to deploy, easy to load, affordable and easily climate-controlled.